American Womans Home | Page 2

the woods and
fields--Parlor-gardens--Hanging baskets--Fern-shields--Ivy, its beauty
and tractableness--Window, with flowers, vines, and pretty
plants--Rustic stand for flowers--Ward's case--How to make it
economically--Bowls and vases of rustic work for growing
plants--Ferns, how and when to gather them--General remarks.
VII.
_THE CARE OF HEALTH._
Importance of some knowledge of the body and its needs--Fearful
responsibility of entering upon domestic duties in ignorance--The
fundamental vital principle--Cell-life--Wonders of the microscope
--Cell-multiplication--Constant interplay of decay and growth
necessary to life--The red and white cells of the blood--Secreting and
converting power--The nervous system--The brain and the
nerves--Structural arrangement and functions--The ganglionic
system--The nervous fluid--Necessity of properly apportioned exercise
to nerves of sensation and of motion--Evils of excessive or insufficient
exercise--Equal development of the whole.
VIII.

_DOMESTIC EXERCISE._
Connection of muscles and nerves--Microscopic cellular muscular
fibre--Its mode of action--Dependence on the nerves of voluntary and
involuntary motion--How exercise of muscles quickens circulation of
the blood which maintains all the processes of life--Dependence of
equilibrium upon proper muscular activity--Importance of securing
exercise that will interest the mind.
IX.
_HEALTHFUL FOOD._
Apportionment of elements in food: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus,
calcium, iron, silicon, etc.--Large proportion of water in the human
body--Dr. Holmes on the interchange of death and life--Constituent
parts of a kernel of wheat--Comparison of different kinds of
food--General directions for diet--Hunger the proper guide and guard of
appetite--Evils of over-eating--Structure and operations of the
stomach--Times and quantity for eating--Stimulating and nourishing
food--Americans eat too much meat--Wholesome effects of Lenten
fasting--Matter and manner of eating--Causes of debilitation from
misuse of food.
X.
_HEALTHFUL DRINKS._
Stimulating drinks not necessary--Their immediate evil effects upon the
human body and tendency to grow into habitual desires--The
arguments for and against stimulus--Microscopic revelations of the
effects of alcohol on the cellular tissue of the brain--Opinions of high
scientific authorities against its use--No need of resorting to stimulants
either for refreshment, nourishment, or pleasure--Tea and coffee an
extensive cause of much nervous debility and suffering--Tend to
wasteful use in the kitchen--Are seldom agreeable at first to
children--Are dangerous to sensitive, nervous organizations, and should
be at least regulated--Hot drinks unwholesome, debilitating, and
destructive to teeth, throat, and stomach--Warm drinks agreeable and
not unhealthful--Cold drinks not to be too freely used during
meals--Drinking while eating always injurious to digestion.
XI.
_CLEANLINESS._
Health and comfort depend on cleanliness--Scientific treatment of the

skin, the most complicated organ of the body--Structure and
arrangement of the skin, its layers, cells, nerves, capillaries, absorbents,
oil-tubes, perspiration-tubes, etc.--The mucous
membrane--Phlegm--The secreting organs--The liver, kidney, pancreas,
salivary and lachrymal glands--Sympathetic connection of all the
bodily organs--Intimate connection of the skin with all the other
organs--Proper mode of treating the skin--Experiment showing happy
effects of good treatment.
XII.
_CLOTHING._
Fashion attacks the very foundation of the body, the bones--Bones
composed of animal and mineral elements--General construction and
arrangement--Health of bones dependent on nourishment and exercise
of body--Spine--Distortions produced by tight dressing--Pressure of
interior organs upon each other and upon the bones--Displacement of
stomach, diaphragm, heart, intestines, and pelvic or lower
organs--Women liable to peculiar distresses--A well-fitted jacket to
replace stiff corsets, supporting the bust above and the under skirts
below--Dressing of young children--Safe for a healthy child to wear as
little clothing as will make it thoroughly comfortable--Nature the
guide--The very young and the very old need the most clothing.
XIII.
_GOOD COOKING._
Bad cooking prevalent in America-Abundance of excellent material--
General management of food here very wasteful and extravagant--Five
great departments of Cookery--_Bread_-What it should be, how to
spoil and how to make it--Different modes of aeration--Baking--Evils
of hot bread.--_Butter_-Contrast between the butter of America and of
European countries-How to make good butter.--_Meat_-Generally used
too newly killed--Lack of nicety in butcher's work--Economy of French
butchery, curving, and trimming--Modes of cooking meats--The
frying-pan--True way of using it--The French art of making delicious
soups and stews--_Vegetables_--Their number and variety in
America--The potato--How to cook it, a simple yet difficult
operation--Roasted, boiled, fried.--_Tea_--Warm table drinks
generally--Coffee--Tea-- Chocolate.--_Confectionery_--Ornamental
cookery--Pastry, ices, jellies.

XIV.
_EARLY RISING._ A virtue peculiarly American and democratic--In
aristocratic countries, labor considered degrading--The hours of
sunlight generally devoted to labor by the working classes and to sleep
by the indolent and wealthy--Sunlight necessary to health and growth
whether of vegetables or animals--Particularly needful for the
sick--Substitution of artificial light and heat, by night, a great waste of
money--Eight hours' sleep enough--Excessive sleep debilitating--Early
rising necessary to a well-regulated family, to the amount of work to be
done, to the community, to schools, and to all classes in American
society.
XV.
_DOMESTIC MANNERS._
Good manners the expression of benevolence in personal
intercourse--Serious defects in manners of the Americans-Causes of
abrupt manners to be found in American life--Want of clear
discrimination between men--Necessity for distinctions of superiority:
and subordination--Importance that young mothers should seriously
endeavor to remedy this defect, while educating their
children--Democratic principal of equal rights to be